Yep.

There’s the obvious slurping of sports’ elite figures, and then there’s the lionization of those who simply and solely show potential. Indiana Pacers power forward Tyler Hansbrough was a victim of this during his career at North Carolina. Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow, who has won a few ballgames in spite of some pretty subpar play is at all-time great status in many of his fans’ eyes. And now we have New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin, a product of Ivy League “powerhouse” Harvard University.

A few NBA teams gave up on Lin before he caught on with the Knicks. Those teams most likely didn’t see much from him and felt they had better options at the position. It’s hard to even give the Knicks credit for discovering Lin;  he’s only gotten substantial playing time over the last 5 games and that’s mainly due to the fact that lead point guard Baron Davis has been out with injury, as well as starting small forward Carmelo Anthony and starting power forward A’mare Stoudemire.

Before this recent 5-game flurry (and winning streak) with the Knicks, I saw Lin play. Once. In college. On the road against Connecticut, he scored 30 points and the Crimson lost. Lin appeared to have decent ball-handling skills and was surprisingly quick for an Ivy League point guard. After the game was over, I completely forgot about Lin. I didn’t even know he was in the NBA until seeing his name on the Knicks roster on NBA 2K12, as a matter of fact.

Getting to the (semblance of a) point, Lin has been very good in his past 5 games. He’s averaged close to 27 points, to go with a little over 4 rebounds and an even 8 assists per game. He’s shot 51% from the floor and even averaged barely over 2 steals per game. He’s scored in a variety of ways: jumper, layup, dunk, floater, runner and I’m pretty sure he hit a 3 while conversing with celebrities who were sitting courtside at the Garden. However, before anyone should crown Lin as the next great point guard, they should look at the surrounding circumstances.

Lin’s “debut” came against the awful New Jersey Nets, who are still without alleged center Brook Lopez. While point guard Deron Williams is an elite player, his talent can’t mask the ineptitude of the Nets. The Nets, one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA, were carved up by Lin to the tune of 25 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists and the Knicks won, 99-92.

Next up were the overachieving Utah Jazz. Lin went for 28-2-8 in a 99-88 win. He shot 10-17 from the floor. He even hit a 3…but also had 8 turnovers against one of the weaker defenses in the league.

Another gift in the form of a matchup against arguably the worst team in the league, the John Wall-led Washington Wizards, was next for Lin and the Knicks. Despite having a solid collection of young talent, the Wizards are downright terrible and are in the NBA’s bottom five in offensive and defensive efficiency, and points and field goal percentage allowed per game. Some people used a Summer League game in which Lin outplayed Wall to support their awful claim that they saw Lin’s streak of exceptional play coming, and Lin once again outplayed Wall, if only barely. Lin’s 23-4-10 weren’t really the difference, but the Lin stans didn’t see it that way. Knicks in a blowout, 107-93.

Finally, Lin got his first real test against the Los Angeles Lakers. Primarily against point frauds Derek Fisher and Steve Blake. At home. This was the game that many of Lin’s detractors thought would finally burst his bubble and put a halt to ESPN’s infatuation with him. WRONG. Lin went off for 38 points in 39 minutes and chipped in 4 rebounds and 7 assists as the Knicks won by 7, 92-85.

Lin and the Knicks capped off a very good week against the sort of-maybe-almost there Minnesota Timberwolves, on the road. In what ESPN of course hailed as a matchup of future star point guards between Lin and rookie Wolf Ricky Rubio, the Knicks did just enough to eke out a 100-98 win. It was by far Lin’s worst game shooting-wise, as he shot 8-24 from the floor. Despite a 33% clip from the field, he managed to finish with 20 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists.

As I wrote before, Lin has been very good so far in his newfound starting role, despite a shoot-first mentality that sometimes leaves his teammates standing idle and committing 4.6 turnovers per game. It’s not Lin’s fault that in the 5 games he’s started, the Knicks have gone up against 3 (possibly 4) of the worst teams in the NBA. Nor is it Lin’s fault that so many have chosen to hype him as the next great point guard.

However, I wish more people would stop and look at Lin’s work, and not how he came to give this premature answer. He’s started 5 games with little expectation. Volume shooter Carmelo Anthony and near-volume shooter A’mare Stoudemire haven’t been on the floor with Lin for one second during this winning streak. Knicks head coach Mike D’antoni’s “7 Seconds Or Less” offensive system is perfect for a point guard like Lin. In the Knicks last game, Lin started alongside Landry Fields, Bill Walker, Jared Jefferies and Tyson Chandler. None of those four are offensively gifted in any way, shape or form, making it even easier for Lin to put up rather gaudy offensive numbers.

I’m not trying to knock Lin. He doesn’t play for the Pistons, therefore I don’t wish embarrassing failure on him. If he stays with the Knicks and D’antoni isn’t fired, he would be a better option at the point than Baron Davis, but I don’t expect him to continue putting up 27 points and 8 assists per. He’d be lucky to average half that, especially if Melo and A’mare are still Knicks. Lin’s stans and nicknames irk the entire hell out of me, and so do all of the “Is he legit?” questions. IT’S BEEN FIVE GAMES. Can we let the kid start for more than a week before tagging him as some sort of basketball wunderkind? Or trying to figure out if he’s really as good as he’s been over the past five games?

There’s no question that Lin has been good since being named a starter, but level of competition does matter, regardless of what you think. It’s not a backhanded compliment to say that he’s been good against mostly bad competition. It’s simply fact. The same goes for his barely-average floormates during this stretch. Huh. Only the most sensitive of Lin’s (lame) lionizers would believe otherwise.

I actually saw these pretty little things on someone’s feet yesterday morning, and felt inclined to stop the person on their way to their car just to find out what the name of them are. These are essentially desert boots/sneakers, and if you’re familiar with Clarks desert boots, you know whether or not you’d cop these. The soles are lined with SUPRAFOAM and the padded flap on the mid-cut ankle is a nice and somewhat unique touch. Interested? Here: Supra Online. You’re welcome.

I won’t mention any names, but I’ve read a few alleged “sneakerheads” incorrectly label these the NIKE Air Trainer SC II Lows. How unfortunate. No matter, these are simply and insanely dope. You can find these at West NYC.

Artist Dave White was asked to freak the Jordan Is, the only pair of Jordans to feature the NIKE swoosh on them. Freak them, he did. There’s a noble cause behind this sneaker, too. The shoe’s creation and a portion of the proceeds revolve around one of Michael Jordan’s charities, WINGS for the Future, which caters towards young athletes and creative minds. These are set to be released tomorrow at your local Jordan store.

Recap.

The team that has New York in its name but is really based out of New Jersey scored more points in regulation than the team that refuses to be Boston over New England, knowing that everyone and their grandmother thinks “New England” sounds pretentious and would only drive them to hate their team and ugly elite quarterback and his good-looking-but-not-really-great-looking wife. There won’t be any actual pro football played for a while, but some of you suckers who are still completely enveloped by ESPN will have to deal with about three-and-a-half months of pre-NFL Draft crap. Good luck tuning out Kiper, Jr., McShay and the rest of those hacks disguised as journalists.

Anyway, there are more important things than caring about a Super Bowl that didn’t involve the Bears. Like, Chicago sports. That are in season.

Blackhawks.

How the hell did this happen? Losing 5 of 6 in late December/early January was enough to have Blackhawks fans calling for goalie Corey Crawford and winger/part-time center Patrick Kane to be traded. Coach Q was messing around with the lines too much. Hockey player (?) John Scott is a huge pile of failure. Despite that bad stretch, the Blackhawks didn’t play that badly. Kings goalie Jonathan Quick outdueled Crawford in the first loss, and two one-goal losses followed that one. A clunker against the Avalanche and OT loss to the Red Wings capped off the string of losses.

This last bad stretch is not the same. Two pretty bad losses to the division rival Nashville Predators, an OT loss to the Luongo-less rival Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers center Sam Gagner going 80′s Gretzky (literally) during an 8-point performance all over the Blackhawks, and Jarome Iginla going old-school Iggy have left the Blackhawks facing a 5-game losing streak, 4 of which have come on the road.

There has been bad offense, defense, goaltending and special teams by the Blackhawks during this run of ineptitude. Obviously Coach Q deserves some blame, but a talented team that finds ways to lose games shouldn’t be on the head of the coach. Overall, the Blackhawks score a lot of goals, but allow a lot, too. Their power play is respectable, but their penalty kill unit is rather paltry. GM Stan Bowman has let it be known he is looking to add depth at the center and defenseman position, but no one has paged him back yet. The “trade (insert name here)!” idiots are back, unfortunately. Things won’t get any easier for the suddenly shaky and Central’s 5th-place and Western Conference’s 6th-seeded Blackhawks, as their next six games will be on the road. Good luck?

Bulls.

No offense to the Blackhawks and anyone who thinks they and the Bulls are both equally legitimate title contenders…but you’re dead wrong. While the Blackhawks have fallen a bit over the last month, the Bulls have overcome injuries to almost everyone but the most injury-prone basketball player known to man, Carlos Boozer, to have the NBA’s second-best record 26 games through the lockout-shortened 2011-12 NBA sseason.

The Bulls rank 3rd in the NBA in both offensive and defensive efficiency. They’re averaging the 11th-most points per game, and are allowing the 3rd-fewest. They’ve won 11 games on the road. Reigning MVP point guard Derrick Rose is actually playing a bit better than he was last season, despite still dealing with a turf toe injury that has kept him out of a few games. When healthy, new shooting guard Rip Hamilton has been a productive player. Center Joakim Noah has come on over the last two weeks after starting the season like he still prefers cognac as his beverage of choice for breakfast. Boozer has been…Boozer, and the bench mob has been a huge reason for the team’s success, just like last season.

Right now, small forward Luol Deng is playing with a torn tendon in his left wrist, and Hamilton is still out with an injured groin. Throw in the injury to Rose and Noah being bitten by the injury bug as well, and it’s amazing the Bulls lost only four games in their first full month of the season. The Bulls have played a fairly favorable schedule, and this will continue in February. Although I’d like there to be, there are no whispers that the Bulls are looking to trade for Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard. Even without Howard though, the Bulls have just as good a chance as any to win the NBA title in June, provided the Bulls don’t suffer any more injuries to key players…and Brian Scalabrine never plays another meaningful minute while he wears a Bulls uniform.

Sparty Men’s Basketball.

The Michigan State Spartans have come a long way since opening the 2011-12 basketball season with consecutive losses to then top-ranked North Carolina and then 2nd-ranked Duke. Since, they’ve gone 18-3, winning games over quality non-conference opponents Gonzaga and Florida State, and winning conference games against Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan, with all three ranked in the AP Top 25.

Coach Tom Izzo recorded his 400th win after a home 68-52 victory over underachieving Minnesota, and regardless of the fact that Sparty doesn’t always appear to be an elite team, they do have an elite player. Senior small forward Draymond Green is a Wooden Award finalist, and deservedly so. The do-it-all native of Saginaw, MI, is averaging 15 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1 block and 1.5 steals per game for the 10th-ranked Spartans. He is also shooting 45% from the field and 37% from 3. Green tweaked his knee in the final seconds of a recent loss to Illinois, but he appeared to be just fine in yesterday’s 10-point win over in-state rival Michigan.

Of the Spartans’ final 8 games, all of them except one (Nebraska, home) should be a tough matchup. They’re currently one game behind conference leader Ohio St., who they will play this Saturday and in both teams’ regular season finales. Defensively, this team is one of the nation’s best. Offensively…well, the defense is one of the nation’s best. The onus to score falls mainly on Green and sophomore point guard, Keith Appling. If they can’t manage to get it going, it’s bad new bears for Sparty. Fortunately, their defense has led the way, and like vintage Izzo-led teams, MSU has been dominant on the offensive and defensive glass. If you’ve seen them play for a half, you’d come away knowing they don’t have a serious offensive threat. Fortunately, that is what one of the nation’s best prep players, MSU commit Gary Harris, will bring to the 2 position in the fall. With their defense and battle-tested unit led by arguably the best all-around player and floor general in the country, Green, there’s no reason to believe the Spartans won’t make noise once the dance starts.

I featured some Air Max 1′s on this page not too long ago, but those were summer colorways. This pretty little thing is catered to runners (not sluts); a nice portion of the upper is wrapped in 3M reflective material. It’s no fun being hit by a car when you’re trying to get your morning jog in.

Courtesy of: Sole Movement